[iPod 5G - 60GB] Database not ready

[sexybeast099]

Before anyone accuses me of not searching for this issue, I've spent about five hours on a combination of google and this site searching the bugtracker, forum, and anything I could possibly find on database initialization. That said, I've found a couple similar issues, but none that seemed to fit what I was going through. I've gotten rockbox to work on my iPod before, but iTunes had been installed on my system once upon a time too, if that makes a difference.

One day, the rockbox database stopped working. When selected "Database" on the main menu, it asked me to initialize it first. I agreed, thinking there was some sort of file corruption and rockbox was fixing it, then after it said it was done I rebooted as per the onscreen instructions. On reboot, the problem showed up again asking me to initialize the database, I tried again, thinking auto-off had effected it, but charging the iPod while it initialized. I also turned off the sleep mode, backlight dimming, and all battery saving functions just in case. No matter what I did, the initialization seemed to have "completed" and was waiting on the reboot, but I couldn't ever view the files in the database.

Here's what I've done:

• reinstalled rockbox from scratch
• removed all music from the iPod (since apparently the tags may cause issues)
• respectively kept one working FLAC, MP3, or WAV file on the iPod in case it was a *lack* of music
• looked in the debugging section of the ipod for the first time and saw that the database was indeed initialized, but it wasn't "ready".
• Initialized, updated, and flipped every setting in the database section of the settings as best I could.

What my iPod CAN do:

• play files from the file explorer
• play playlists
• create playlists(?)

Any ideas? I'm working with an old iPod I got off of eBay and I'd prefer not to have to restore it to out of box condition with iTunes unless there aren't any other options. I'd also be happy to attach any log from the actions I've described as soon as someone informs me of how to acquire said log.

[sexybeast099]

*bump*

I decided to install iTunes after all. I uninstalled the Rockbox software via the EXE utility, then the bootloader in the same fashion. Afterwards I loaded up iTunes 10.x to do a factory reset ("Restore"). After doing so, I immediately ran the Rockbox utility using "Autodetect" while checking the results, then "Full Installation." This time there was a change in behavior:

- Database initializes, but now shows a blank screen when entering the database. Not even the typicall "Artists," "Albums," et al.

I shutdown the iPod by holding the Play/Pause button to do a soft shutdown. It still didn't show anything. I then held the center button and MENU to force a hard shutdown. Same overall effect, although this time it displayed "Committing databases x/9" where x started at 1 and increased to 9. Debugging the database shows that, although initialized, it's not "ready." New symptoms, maybe new clues on how to solve this...? I'll post back if I find anything new.

Once again I run Linux, which is why I'd prefer to go with Rockbox, and would prefer to not use iTunes at all. I've tried all of the Linux compatibility patches to use the default iPod firmware, but nothing has worked. Amarok? No. Rhythmbox? Nada. Any ideas?

EDIT: Forgot to mention a couple things.
- I retried respectively initializing and updating the database from the settings menu, and
- I transferred 1.46GB of music to a folder named "_Music" where the folder structure looks like this: "/_Music/Billboard/US Billboard Hot 100 (Week of Autust 20, 2010)/MUSIC_FILENAME_HERE.mp3"

[Chronon]

It could be that the metadata parser isn't handling some of your files.  Can you successfully build the database with a subset of your files?

At the very least you can use the file browser until you can figure out which files are preventing the database from building properly (or we determine some other cause).

[sexybeast099]

I've tried building the database without having any music files on the disk and it didn't change anything in the first instance. Since restoring my iPod using iTunes I have yet to toy around with that.

...

I'm back and it looks like it's still not the metadata parser. I tried putting just CodeMonkey.mp3 (legally found HERE) at the root of the device and the database still reacted exactly the same. Every time I get a new piece of evidence I try to follow up on it as best I can.  Is it possible that the rockbox installation was somehow fuddled because I installed it with a 64 bit Windows 7 (using the 32 bit emulator)?


Following up on an idea:

Upon further searching, I checked the databases and "database_6.tcd" had content that made no sense. If there is a metadata parsing issue, it's in that database. I checked the tags for CodeMonkey.mp3 and it seemed there were about 6 sets of 8 character hexadecimal numbers delimited by a space in that database that were not remotely linked to the tags in the MP3.

I decided to open the TCD database in notepad (since I'm booted into windows right now) and highlighted exactly from where the hex numbers started to where they stopped and pressed backspace. I then saved the file without issue. When I tried opening the database on my iPod, it started to freeze at "459 songs found so far" (paraphrasing). I pressed back to exit the process and decided to initialize the database via the context menu. I then tested the results: nothing. Updated via the context menu: nothing.


EDIT: Just checked "database_6.tcd" again and the numbers are back. Maybe it's info not related to the tags on the mp3 file?

"00000000 00000210 00000780 00000000007F5E70 00000000 0045429D 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000" is what I was seeing in the file. Copied and pasted exactly from "database_6.tcd".

[saratoga]

Upon further searching, I checked the databases and "database_6.tcd" had content that made no sense. If there is a metadata parsing issue, it's in that database. I checked the tags for CodeMonkey.mp3 and it seemed there were about 6 sets of 8 character hexadecimal numbers delimited by a space in that database that were not remotely linked to the tags in the MP3.

So basically you found the file name followed by a series of numbers?

Random guess:  track number, disk number, year, index in the database, etc.  If you want to know how the database works, its probably easier to just read the code then try and reverse engineer it from the binary.

I decided to open the TCD database in notepad (since I'm booted into windows right now) and highlighted exactly from where the hex numbers started to where they stopped and pressed backspace. I then saved the file without issue. When I tried opening the database on my iPod, it started to freeze at "459 songs found so far" (paraphrasing). I pressed back to exit the process and decided to initialize the database via the context menu. I then tested the results: nothing. Updated via the context menu: nothing.

That probably ruins the entire database file.

[sexybeast099]

So basically you found the file name followed by a series of numbers?

Random guess:  track number, disk number, year, index in the database, etc.  If you want to know how the database works, its probably easier to just read the code then try and reverse engineer it from the binary.

I was perusing the rockbox folder of my iPod and found some CP files on there... is that what you're referring to? Maybe the docs index on the site?

That probably ruins the entire database file.

I figured that one out and rebuilt it using the initialize and update functions. It's now exactly the same as it was before. Keep in mind that I'm very much a beginner at the tech aspect of rockbox (since it worked out of box for me before) so I'm trying anything, then reinstalling if things get too buggered up.

[saratoga]

So basically you found the file name followed by a series of numbers?

Random guess:  track number, disk number, year, index in the database, etc.  If you want to know how the database works, its probably easier to just read the code then try and reverse engineer it from the binary.

I was perusing the rockbox folder of my iPod and found some CP files on there... is that what you're referring to? Maybe the docs index on the site?

I assume you mean .tcd.  Those numbers you found for your files are probably it's tags.

Anyway, rereading your posts, if you did a restore, then reinstalled, and nothing changed I tend to think theres something wrong with your player.

[sexybeast099]

I assume you mean .tcd.  Those numbers you found for your files are probably it's tags.

Anyway, rereading your posts, if you did a restore, then reinstalled, and nothing changed I tend to think theres something wrong with your player.

Actually I was referring to the contents of /.rockbox/codepages when you mentioned:

Random guess:  track number, disk number, year, index in the database, etc.  If you want to know how the database works, its probably easier to just read the code then try and reverse engineer it from the binary.

I expected that my device might be on its last legs so this isn't exactly shocking. I just hoped that I could salvage it in some way.

Meantime, I'll keep the thread unlocked for a while in case someone has another idea that I can try.

[saratoga]

Actually I was referring to the contents of /.rockbox/codepages when you mentioned:

Upon further searching, I checked the databases and "database_6.tcd" had content that made no sense. If there is a metadata parsing issue, it's in that database. I checked the tags for CodeMonkey.mp3 and it seemed there were about 6 sets of 8 character hexadecimal numbers delimited by a space in that database that were not remotely linked to the tags in the MP3.

 

[sexybeast099]

*facepalm*

I get it now! You were talking about reading what the numbers were supposed to mean as opposed to what I thought, reading some included documentation for rockbox.